


Rules

by nebula99



Category: Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-16
Updated: 2012-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-21 06:56:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/594768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebula99/pseuds/nebula99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rules have to be obeyed. Otherwise, there are consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rules

**Author's Note:**

  * For [loathlylady](https://archiveofourown.org/users/loathlylady/gifts).



Rules

Destiny is a funny thing. You can’t escape it – doesn’t matter what you do. Fate has a funny way of finding you and bending the world to fit the rules. You can try as hard as you can to change your path, but what you often find is that the path just twists and turns and you end up where you were always meant to go.

All this is fine if your destiny is something that you’re happy about it. If you wanted to do something different with your life – then it’s not so fine. But hey - I don’t _make_ the rules. 

I just apply them.

I had been watching the girl for years. Ever since she was born, I had been watching, and waiting. I knew what was coming for her, but still I watched, hoping that story would be happier than I had been told it would be. But, just as the books tell you, her life turned out pretty badly until I met her. 

She was a beautiful baby – all rosy cheeks and golden hair, just like her mother. But life could be cruel in those days and she was only seven years old when she stood all in black at her mother’s graveside. 

Personally, I would have thought at least a couple of years mourning was in order, but like I told you, I don’t make the rules. Her father remarried within six months and this time the match wasn’t for love. He was a wealthy man and his new bride was a canny woman. Herself a widow with two daughters, she saw a lifeline and she took it. 

My girl’s father was a weak man and already broken with grief. Wife number two could have asked him to dance naked in red hot shoes and he would have done it. His new family provided just enough distraction to keep him going through the days and at night, he wept and wept for the love he had lost.

Of course, you know what came next. My girl, who outshone her step-sisters in everyway, found herself unwelcome in her own home. Her father’s heart was already broken and even his own lovely child was not enough for him. At least she wasn’t turned out of home – instead, they kept her as a servant, forcing her to work around the house and sleep in the hearth. 

All of this was shown to me when I looked in the mirror and I was powerless to intervene. I had my rules to obey and so I watched, and waited. 

And then, after many years, the invitation came. All of the household invited to the ball – all apart from my lovely girl. And to see her work so hard, patiently curling their hair and pressing their gowns – I don’t mind telling you that it broke my heart a little. 

But I painted on a smile and went to do my job.

“Why, I’m your fairy godmother!”

Her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. “I don’t believe you.”

I paused for a moment. This wasn’t in the script. “Well, it’s true,” I said, “I’m here to help you go to the ball.” 

I don’t mind telling you – I was disappointed with her reaction. I mean, not everyone gets a fairy godmother and I don’t think a little awe and gratitude is out of the question. 

“What if I don’t want to go the ball?” She folded her arms and raised up her chin. Even though the soot on her face, you could see she was beautiful.

“Of course you want to go to the ball. Everyone wants to go to the ball. You can meet the Prince and he can fall in love with you.” I probably shouldn’t have said that, being as it was confidential information about the future, but I figured that she needed an incentive. “Who doesn’t want to marry a Prince?”

“Me,” She replied sharply. “I don’t want to marry a Prince – I don’t want to marry anybody. I just want to get out of here and go and live my own life.”

I took a deep breath and flicked my wand, transforming her from grubby housemaid to belle of the ball. I even gave her glass shoes, which looked stunning with her sparkling gown. “Look at you! You look amazing.”

She turned to the mirror over the fireplace and studied her reflection for a minute, before lifting her foot and examining her shoes. “These are made of glass – that’s ridiculous. They’re bloody uncomfortable and they are just going to break.” She sighed and looked at me. “I mean, the dress is nice but if I get a fairy godmother, can’t you give me something I can actually use?”

It was hard to keep my temper at that point. I had done a pretty good job so far but there was no time to argue with the ungrateful wench. I had to get her to the ball to dance with the Prince and then escape at midnight. The stories all tell of pumpkins and mice and that was really how it was meant to go but to be honest, I just didn’t have time to wait for her to fetch them. I used a bit more magic than I had planned and the coach and horses were waiting outside within seconds.

With a fixed smile on my face, I led her to the door. “Go on then, my lovely,” I told her. “Go to the ball and have a wonderful time.”

She looked at the coach and then turned to me, her face aghast. “I don’t want to,” she cried, “I don’t want to marry _anybody_ , least of all a man I don’t even know. He could be a monster. My life has been miserable for so many years and I can’t believe that I get a fairy godmother and she doesn’t even help me to escape.”

This wasn’t at all going to plan. I took her firmly by the wrist and walked her to the glittering steps. “He’s rich and he’s handsome and he’s royal. You will never be hungry, or cold, or alone again.” My grip was strong and she had no choice but to let me lead her up into the coach. “There are girls who would kill for your destiny,” I hissed.

Her face crumpled as she sat down onto the velvet seat. “They’re welcome to it,” she said in a small voice. “Why do I have to leave one prison for another?”

“Because that’s how it is,” I told her. “Your fate is to marry a Prince. I don’t understand why you don’t want to?”

My girl looked at me so pitifully that I almost let her go. “I just want to control my own life,” she said. “I’ve been trapped here nearly all my life and now I’m going to be trapped again. I don’t want to marry a Prince – I want to see the world and fall in love with someone I choose myself, rather than someone chosen for me.”

I didn’t have an answer. She had her destiny to realise and I had my job to do. I slammed the coach door shut and sent her on her way to the ball. 

As well you know, she left the ball at the chimes of midnight and lost a glass shoe on the way. The Prince came looking and eventually appeared at the house of my girl. Her sisters tried their best but everyone knew that the shoe wouldn’t fit. 

I found her hiding in the pantry, hoping to avoid trying on the shoe, but I couldn’t let her do that. She spat when she saw me, but I dodged neatly and then took hold of her arm. “You will try on the shoe,” I told her. “And then you can marry him.”

There were furious tears in her eyes and she shook her head. “I’d rather die,” she hissed. “He’s stupid and cruel and he will make my life even more miserable. I would rather sweep floors everyday and watch my father dissolve into his own sorrow than become joined forever to that man.”

It was heartbreaking to see her so distressed but I had no choice. She had to marry him. I placed one hand at the small of her back and opened the pantry door, ready to push her out into the kitchen and the arms of her future husband.

Of course the shoe fitted her and of course the Prince declared that he would make her his bride. And of course everybody was delighted because everybody loves a happy ending. But I couldn’t help worrying for her. 

I was supposed to visit briefly once more only and sprinkle happy dust all over the wedding ceremony but I couldn’t help myself. Rules are rules and she had to marry him but her pain at the thought of it was something that weighed heavily on my mind. 

The night before the wedding, I visited her at the palace. She was sitting on an enormous bed, clad in a simple shift and crying her eyes out. I watched from the window for a little while and was just about to enter the room when she picked up a vial, uncorked it and swallowed the contents in one gulp.

I knew it was poison – the purple liquid stained her mouth as she shuddered and gasped and then collapsed onto the bed. My poor girl would rather die than marry a man she despised and for a moment, I cheered her determination. But killing yourself is against the rules and so I bent over and touched her mouth lightly with my wand.

She fought the spell but eventually her eyes opened and she looked at me with pure hatred. “Why?” she whispered. “It’s my choice.”

I shook my head. “No, sweetheart,” I answered, “It’s your destiny and my job to make sure you fulfil it.” 

She turned her head away and began to cry again, tears rolling down her pretty face as she wept. It was heartbreaking but what could I do? Rules have to be obeyed.

I wandered to the window and looked out. There were fireflies dancing in the darkness and I couldn’t help but smile at how dazzling their short lives were. The lived for only days or weeks but each moment was filled with excitement and wonder. 

I watched them for a moment and then I had an idea. I could help her – she would still fulfil her destiny but I could make it far less painful to her. 

I reached out my hand and a firefly alighted on my palm. Quickly I covered it with my other hand, cupping the insect gently as I brought it into the room. I hurried over to the bed. 

“Sit up,” I told her and reluctantly she did as I told her. Her eyes were red and swollen with crying and her face was pale. “This is your last chance,” I said. “Would you rather die than marry him?”

She nodded and bit her lip and I knew that she was serious. “Then it shall be so.” I closed my eyes and let my magic fill me, then looked at her. 

I opened my hands and the firefly fluttered in my palm. Then I picked up my wand and touched the bug lightly before touching my girl’s forehead. She stared at me for a moment and then cried out softly. The firefly became suddenly still and I knew that it was done.

The girl on the bed was looking around her in wonder, her eyes glowing brightly as she took in her surroundings. I would help her tonight as much as I could. But before I did that, I had something else to do.

I walked back over to the window and held my hands out into the warm darkness. The firefly seemed to hesitate, but within seconds, it had joined the others in a frantic dance of freedom.

The girl would marry the Prince and live happily ever after and for a lot longer than she would have done otherwise. The firefly would enjoy a few weeks of freedom if she was lucky before fulfilling her own insect destiny.

Technically, of course I was cheating. But I stuck to the rules and the Prince did marry the girl whose foot fitted the shoe. She just wasn’t quite the same as she had been when they first met.

My rule-bending didn’t go unnoticed and while the sentiment behind my actions was understood, my tampering could not go unpunished. I knew that, of course, rules are not made to be broken and there have to be consequences.

But it’s okay.

I won’t be a frog forever.


End file.
